Chapter 318: Heart of Love

"They should've figured out Shinomiya's condition by now."

"Let's take a look."

Rinji and Hayasaka stood up and walked toward the examination room.

At the door, Rinji pulled a ring from his pocket and slipped it onto his finger.

"I'm no medical expert, but I know a bit about human biology. If something really serious is going on, I'll handle it myself."

---

Inside the consultation room—

"Miss Kaguya, please remain calm."

Wearing a white lab coat, the director Tanuma Shozo—an experienced man in his fifties—adjusted his glasses and addressed the nervous Kaguya sitting before him.

"Yes..."

"You have... Love Syndrome."

Kaguya: "..."

Hayasaka: "..."

Rinji: "..."

Staring at Kaguya's dumbfounded expression, Hayasaka's face-covering embarrassment, and Shozo's serious demeanor, Rinji quietly took off his ring and put it back into his pocket.

Hopeless. Just wait for death.

"Doctor... what kind of illness is this? Some kind of heart condition?" Kaguya asked, utterly confused.

"It's not. It's simply an accelerated heartbeat when you're around someone you like."

"..."

"..."

"Hahaha, Doctor, you're joking, right?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

"Then what do you mean!? Are you seriously saying I fainted and got rushed to the hospital because my heart raced from being in love?"

"Yes. In my thirty-plus years of practice, this is the first time I've seen a case like this."

"Please stop joking!" Kaguya shouted. "Even if others might be infatuated with me, I would never fall into such an embarrassing state as being in love!"

Shozo stared blankly at her, then turned to the nurse beside him.

"This girl's really weird."

Nurse: "We usually call it 'tsundere.'"

With a sigh, Shozo looked over at Hayasaka and Rinji.

As the Shinomiya family's private physician, he was familiar with the relationship between Hayasaka and Kaguya. The blond boy next to them, however, he hadn't seen before.

"You there, are you acquainted with Miss Kaguya?"

"Yes. My name is Takamine Rinji. I work with Shinomiya in the student council."

"Oh, Rinji-kun. My grandson's mentioned you."

The name jogged Shozo's memory, and he chuckled.

"He said there's a first-year in the student council who's really kind to him, always listening to his complaints and even helped him find a girlfriend."

"That's true. I guess he has some conscience after all..."

"He also said you're incredibly cute, like—"

"Your grandson is about to get obliterated, you know that?"

"...Ahem, back to the diagnosis."

Shozo steered the conversation back to Kaguya.

"Rinji-kun, what do you think about Miss Kaguya's current condition?"

As soon as he asked, Kaguya shot a panicked look at Rinji as if begging him not to say anything stupid.

"You mean Shinomiya? She's fine. Everyone dies eventually..."

Kaguya: "Don't talk like I'm already dead!!"

Shozo: "Not that. I meant, do you think she's possibly in love or something like that?"

Kaguya: "Absolutely not!! I already said so! Even if others adore me, I'd never fall in love... Right, Rinji-kun!?"

As she said that, Kaguya kept throwing desperate glances at Rinji.

Regardless of what she thought, Rinji had promised Shirogane not to reveal that he liked Kaguya. That secret had to be kept.

"Doctor Shozo, what Shinomiya said is absolutely right."

"Exactly..."

"Among the people I know, not a single one is romantically interested in her. Definitely not."

Thud!

Kaguya clutched her chest and collapsed to the floor.

"Among the people he knows... so that means the president too... doesn't like me... ugh..."

Shozo: "Does she act this weird at school too?"

Rinji: "We call people like this 'tsundere.'"

Seeing Kaguya lying there looking lifeless, Rinji sighed, squatted beside her, and whispered in her ear, "Oh, I just remembered. There is someone... but I can't say the name."

The moment he said that, Kaguya instantly sprang up and elegantly returned to her seat.

"Hmph, whether someone likes me or not is irrelevant. As a member of the Shinomiya family, I could never care about such things."

Rinji turned to look at Hayasaka, who was blushing and covering her face.

"Is she this tsundere at home too?"

"She wasn't like this before... At least, not this dumb."

Watching her mistress embarrass herself repeatedly, Hayasaka seriously considered fleeing the hospital.

Shozo, the nurse, and Rinji exchanged glances.

There was still one more thing they could try.

---

Inside a specialized X-ray room sat a massive machine.

Kaguya, now in a hospital gown, lay on the platform while the camera pointed directly at her flat chest.

"This is the most advanced machine in our hospital, so it's quite expensive."

"Compared to my life, money means nothing," Kaguya said coolly.

Outside the glass panel, several nurses were inspecting the monitor. Hayasaka still had her face flushed, while Rinji stood with a blank expression watching Kaguya and the doctors.

"The heart looks completely normal," one nurse said, examining the X-ray image.

"Impossible! My heart hurt so badly for the first time today. Aren't there holes in it or something?" Kaguya protested.

"If there were, you'd already be dead," Shozo replied. "Like I said, this is love..."

"That's even more impossible!"

"..."

Shozo sighed and looked at Rinji through the glass.

Rinji nodded and spoke through the intercom, "Shinomiya, although we don't get along very well, I must admit you are... exceptional."

"What's with the 'although'..."

"Someone as remarkable as you—within all of Shuchiin Academy, I think only the student council president, Shirogane Miyuki, is a suitable match."

"Eh!?"

"You two are practically made for each other."

"Hmph, even if you say that, I don't care at all."

Inside the room, Kaguya pouted. Outside, the nurse muted the mic and said, "Her heart rate just passed 200."

"What a huge giveaway."

Rinji chuckled, then unmuted.

"But unfortunately, the president doesn't seem to feel the same way. I get the sense this will only end in failure."

Kaguya: "I... I told you, I don't care."

Nurse: "Whoa, her heart just skipped a beat."